I encourage new visitors to the website and blog to join our professional learning network (PLN) via Facebook and Google Friend Connect so that we can all engage in more active and collaborative ways. I hope you’ll join our educational community (click on the buttons below) and let’s have fun learning together. Please feel free to invite other educators, preservice teachers, homeschool families, and anyone with an interest in education and technology, too.
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I’ve recently setup a Facebook page for Clif Mims.com which includes my entire educational website and this blog. This provides us additional avenues for sharing resources and engaging with people that share an interest in education, technology, instructional design, curriculum, professional development, technology integration, Web 2.0 and social media, and more. 
I’ve added fan box widgets to my website and towards the bottom of the right-hand menu of this blog which show off a few random avatars of people that have already become fans.
Please click the gray “Become a Fan” button and join the learning and fun.
I’m a big, big fan of Diigo. I appreciate that I can save and share bookmarks, highlight and leave comments on webpages, annotate resources, host and participate in groups and forums on particular topics, message and interact with friends and colleagues, and much more. It’s a very big component of my personal learning network (PLN). I’m also impressed and pleased that the Diigo founders and employees listened to its community of teacher-users and developed Diigo for Educators (More fondly referred to as EduDiigo). Here are some thoughts about about why teachers and learners might use Diigo.
New Group
I started a new group dedicated to the topic of mobile technology and learning. I invite everyone with an interest/expertise in the topic to become an active member.
Other Groups
FYI, consider joining these other groups, too.
Friend Me
Please feel free to friend me because, as I frequently say, “Together we learn more.”
Educators, what are some strategies for connecting the classroom with the outside world?
NOTE: I’d like to share responses in an upcoming workshop/presentation and on my blog and wiki. You can submit your ideas using the form below, share your text/audio/video reply in the Comments section of this post or respond via Twitter, Plurk or on your blog using the tag #thruwalls. You can also view the compiled database of suggested strategies on my wiki, Learning Telecollaboratively.
Share this post using http://tr.im/104.
Conversation tag: #thruwalls
These are the slides for my keynote address for the iConnect iLearn Conference. Unfortunately some of the animations and formatting were lost when uploaded to my SlideBoom. The presentation wiki contains the database of teacher-generated strategies for breaking through the walls of the classroom and all the presentation resources. I hope to create a Vidcast or SlideCast of this presentation once things settle down.
THINKING OUT LOUD
Episode 004
Animoto: Quick and Slick – Tom Barrett
How to Become a Twitter Teacher – Kapil Bhatia
Why Spend So Much Time on This Stuff? – Liz B. Davis
Powerful Images to Give Lessons Punch – Danny Nicholson
Tom Barrett, developed the below presentation. It is full of strategies and tips for effectively integrating Twitter with teaching and learning.
Kevin Honeycutt has created and is sharing a new Google Doc called Who New Plurkers Should Follow and Why. It is a great resource and would be helpful to anyone wishing to network with top notch people interested in education and technology.
Haven’t tried Plurk? Take a look now. It’s a microblogging platform similar to Twitter, but it has threaded discussion.
Technology Integration Teacher Educators is a network of teacher educators with an interest in educational technology. It is a growing network with some big plans. I encourage you to join if this sounds like a useful resource for you.
